


You're My Best Friend

by nikkisunshine



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Byeler - Freeform, Fluff, Gay, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Mutual Pining, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pretty much just fluffy cuteness, Thanksgiving Dinner, Wike - Freeform, based on a Queen song!! hence the title :'), byler, references to homophobic language!! just a warning, that's why I rated it T instead of G, they're gay your honour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-01-02 20:57:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21167759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikkisunshine/pseuds/nikkisunshine
Summary: Mike comes to visit Will at Thanksgiving and Will is confronted with everything he thought he had left behind in Hawkins.This is a prequel to my other fic, "Walking in a Winter Blunderland", and based on some of Queen's discography!!♡





	1. Lost In The Universe

**Author's Note:**

> HELLOOO!!! I am so excited to be back again with another Byler fic lol ♡♡ I've wanted to write this one for months but I got busy with the other fic and some other projects but I hope u enjoy it!
> 
> I wrote this in the tags too but in case you didn't see, there is a reference to homophobic slurs so I just wanted to put a little warning here!!
> 
> This takes place after Season 3 :')

Will lay on his bed, staring at the peeling glow-in-the-dark constellation stuck on his ceiling. The late autumn heat swirled lazily through the room, mingling with the fierce voice of Freddie Mercury. Jonathan had recently introduced him to Queen and Will felt an instant connection with him, almost a spiritual kinship. He closed his eyes and let himself be pulled into the universe of the music: the thudding drums carrying the weight of the asteroid belt, the electric guitar guiding the light of a thousand shooting stars, and Freddie’s voice the sound of creation itself, underlying purpose and substance throughout the cosmos. 

Whenever Will would play his Queen records, he felt suspended but supported, both liberated from and more engaged with his physical form as the music ignited every fiber of his being. He let the strength flowing from the music fill up all the cracks to impart unbridled cosmic power to his lanky teenage frame. It made him feel as if he could be anything in the universe just by being himself. When he heard another voice expressing the thoughts he was too afraid to put to words, he felt feel less alone in the world.

And more often than not, he was alone, either sketching with his new art set or just sitting and listening to music. Sometimes, El or Jonathan would come in and keep him company for a while, but his room was usually a chamber of solitude.

The first year of high school isn't easy for anyone, but it had been especially hard for Will. Like many newly initiated freshmen, he felt so small and weak in a world of brutish giants with booming voices that made his knees shake and the earth quake around his size 10 sneakers. He was quiet by nature, but with all his friends still in Hawkins, Indiana, he felt even less inclined to share out in class, or really make any noise at all. 

There were other reasons he wanted to stay invisible too.

Will had a secret: one that he tried to push down to the deepest corners of his mind, one that filled his stomach with nauseating emotions that he couldn’t seem to hide. It seemed like the secret had been written across his face for as long as he could remember because everyone seemed to somehow _know_. He hoped that along with the move, he was able to escape the whispers and jeers that had followed him around Hawkins like a second shadow:  _ fairy, queer, homo, sissy, faggot. _ The possibility of leaving those ugly words in the rearview mirror gave him one tiny glowing speck of hope in establishing a fresh start. His anonymity was a gift; he knew well the dangers of being seen.

So far he’d been successful, but in the process, everything about him had been subdued. In his loneliness, his world had taken on a grayish cast, as if the sunlight wasn’t allowed to fully permeate the thick clouds obscuring his line of sight.

But today was gonna be different. In approximately 38 minutes, Will’s best friend and favorite person in the world was gonna come over and spend the remainder of Thanksgiving break with him. Will had known Mike Wheeler since kindergarten and had loved him the moment he met him. Looking at his curly black hair, bright eyes and the cute freckles he had splattered across his cheeks always made Will feel so inexplicably happy, like he had just drunk a mug of piping hot apple cider in one gulp. In fact, just thinking about him put a lazy smile on his face. He couldn’t hide his excitement; it had been building for days.

_ Someone’s got a spring in his step, _ his mom had said yesterday as she set the table for dinner, looking at her son with a knowing twinkle in her eye. _ Are you excited to see your friend? _

Will hadn’t known how to respond, so he simply chirped a cheery  _ yup!  _ before running to the restroom to wash his hands, smiling as he did now. 

Just 37 minutes and 43 seconds. 42… 41… 40… 39-

His mental arithmetic was interrupted by a sharp rap on the door. He flinched, and his heart leaped all the way out of his chest. He tried to take deep breaths to calm his thundering pulse, but the effort was unsuccessful.  _ What is he doing here so early? _ He thought, half in irritation, half in excited anticipation. 

“Will!” Joyce called up the stairs; he could hear the smile in her voice. “Mike’s here!!”

“I know, Ma! Coming!!” he called back as he practically jumped over the banister in his hurry to get down the stairs. He ran ungracefully, slipping on the dining room carpet. He slowed his pace right before he got to the door and took a deep breath to gather some semblance of self-composure as he reached the door. With a cool expression masking his pounding heart and sweaty hands, he opened the door.

Mike had no such composure.

His smile was as big as all of Indiana, as bright as the summer sun, filled to the brim with the joyful memories of all the jokes they shared.

“Will!” he called out, hurrying towards him. 

He pulled him into a hug and the rest of the world went silent. 


	2. The Way You Look...

Pressed against the soft wool of Mike’s sweater, Will felt more at home than he had in months. He pulled away and looked at Mike with a scrupulous gaze. For a tense moment, Will was desperately trying to take note of every minute alteration that Time had made to his friend's appearance since they were last together. Will noticed that Mike had grown even taller and his hair now fell into loose, natural curls. The summer freckles had faded as his skin lost its golden tan, but it now shone with the soft glow of moonlight. His dark eyebrows arched up in surprise as he looked at Will with a radiant smile.

“Will, you look so...” he said, grinning and shaking his head. “When did you get so tall?” 

Will tugged at his sleeve self-consciously. “I guess it kind of snuck up on me. I thought I was gonna catch up to you, but you went and got even taller somehow” He said, gesturing vaguely above his head. He felt his face heat up. He had forgotten how much he could struggle with words around Mike; it was as if he were a powerful magnet pulling out all the alphabet letters of his thoughts in a jumbled heap. 

Mike laughed. “Hey, it sneaks up on the best of us,” he said, elbowing Will’s arm awkwardly. He blushed as he quickly looked away and his gaze settled on the house before him. “Wow, this place is humongous! You gotta show me around!”

Will was exceptionally grateful for this shift to the shallow shores of harmless small talk. “Definitely bigger than we’re used to, that’s for sure, but real estate is cheaper in New Mexico,” he said simply as he welcomed Mike into his new home.

As Mike walked in, he surveyed the spacious living room which was decked out in Aztec print rugs, rawhide chairs, and geometric shaped tapestries. “Wow, Joyce really went all out here, huh? It looks… looks very nice” he said politely. 

Will laughed, shaking his head slightly. “Noooo, it came furnished like this already. We’re just renting this place for now until we find a cheaper place to settle down”

“I think you fit in well here,” he said sincerely. “I mean yes the house but mostly New Mexico, the desert. Everything just feels bigger here. More open, more  _ free _ , like you could really be whoever, whatever you want. I wish I could move too,” he looked down and kicked at the fringe on the edge of the rug as he spoke. “Through the countless hours I spent in my mom’s old SUV, I fell in love with the burning sun and the wide-open desert sky, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of you.” He grimaced “Indiana’s been so much colder since you left. I wish I could move out here with you. We could just hang out whenever.” 

Will smiled in bitter irony as he considered how Mike thought of him as being 'open.' It felt like a lie.  _ If only you knew how much of myself I try to hide.  _ He pushed the thought aside and mustered up “Yeah, that’d be awesome, it’d be so nice to have my best friend up here too”

Mike’s face lit up with an emotion so pure, so sweet, he could hardly stand it. Like staring into the sun, it was a brightness that could hurt him; he was afraid of the scattered and abandoned wishes that it might illuminate. He quickly broke the moment with an inelegant “Um, wanna see my room or something?”

“Yeah, sure!” Mike replied, the excitement still brightly cast upon his face.

They climbed the stairs in a tense and giddy silence, the proximity alone making Will felt like he was going to burst into hysteria-- just being close to him made him feel dizzy. But the feeling dissipated when they crossed by El’s firmly shut pink door. The atmosphere became thicker, darker. He saw Mike glance at it and then look quickly away in burning shame. They walked into his room in silence and sat down on his bed, the air carrying a weight they could feel.

He knew almost immediately about the breakup because he shared a wall with El. She was, of course, upset, but more than anything, she was confused.

Will was confused too.

The previous summer, Mike had been so bewildered by the fact he actually managed to get a girlfriend that he spent every waking hour basking in her presence. His world seemed to gather its form and meaning from her perfumed essence and he barely registered the existence of anyone else. When Will tried to talk to him, he was often ignored. It was like, without even realizing it, he had been dragged to the upside-down once more.

During that time, he was doubtful that Mike would even look his way again, but today he felt not only noticed but truly seen, perhaps more deeply than he was comfortable with. With the jittery energy surrounding their conversations and the way that Mike was looking at him now, he couldn’t help but question the previously unequivocal fact that Mike liked girls and girls alone.

But then he opened his mouth.

“So… any cute girls up here? I need to know if I’m gonna move here” he said, stretching theatrically with a dramatic glint in his eyes.

Will’s world deflated with a quiet sigh. “Maybe?? I don’t know. I haven’t really been looking”

Mike’s face fell into something earnest. “Wait really? Why?”

Will looked down, picking at the loose threads on his bedspread “I think I gotta find some friends before I go looking for a girl”

“Oh” Now Mike was the one who seemed to fall flat. 

Will’s pulse quickened. _ Does he want me to talk about girls? Is this how teenage boys are supposed to bond? Is this how we are supposed to bond?  _ He sent forth a slew of thoughts in an attempt to fill the silence “Not that there aren’t some cuties, because, let me tell you, there are. There _ really _ are. There are a lot of pretty ladies around here, that’s for sure” Even to him, the words sounded forced.

A kaleidoscope of emotions fought behind Mike's eyes. He finally settled into a small smile. “Yeah, I bet,” he said, a little quieter than before. He punched him lightly on the arm, his mouth quirking into a devilish grin “Bet all the girls are crushing on you and you don’t even know it”

Will flushed. “What?? No.  _ Seriously _ no,” his face was burning fiercely as he shook his head but his mouth sprung into a grin.

“No, for real! Here you are, this tall, mysterious stranger, carrying a sketchbook with you wherever you go-“

“I don’t do that anymore”

“-and they're probably wondering what deep thoughts swim in that beautiful head of yours” Mike concluded with a smirk that dripped with self-satisfaction.

Will scrunched his nose and shook his head “Oh my god, shut up,I don’t think anyone has ever thought my head beautiful before”

Mike looked at him with eyebrows raised. “Will, come _on_. You’re ridiculously good-looking, and you’re smart and funny and kind. Any girl would be more than lucky to have you… ”

Will looked up to see Mike’s cheeks tinged a little pink, but delivering unwavering eye contact. The moment stretched out over an anticipatory silence, and the look across his face was so foreign that Will almost thought him a handsome stranger. He tilted his head back and his gaze dipped down to Will’s lips for only a millisecond, and it was almost as if… 

“El! Boys!! Dinner’s ready” Joyce called from downstairs.

Time snapped back into its regular flow and the moment was gone. When Will looked back at Mike, he saw the same, wide-eyed kid that he had grown up alongside for his whole life staring back at him. A vacant expression of mild shock spread across his face and Will couldn't help but smile. 

“Race ya downstairs?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if anyone was actually waiting for an update on this story, but I must apologize deeply because it has been quite a while!! This chapter was kind of hard to write because I had the first and last chapter planned but not the transition, so it took a while (and some really REALLY truly terrible drafts) to get it to where I wanted it. I am so grateful for anyone who takes the time to read this :') it's too fun to write abt these sweet boiz!!
> 
> side note: Will is really terrible at pretending to be straight and I love that for him hahahah


	3. Really Love You

“I want to ride my BICYCLE! BICYCLE! BICYCLE!” Mike was singing at the top of lungs and Will had his head in his hands, caught in that painful no man’s land between laughter and second-hand embarrassment.

“I love that song!” Mike said, flopping down on the bed next to him. They had been listening to Queen all day. It was that lazy day after Thanksgiving when the tryptophan-induced haze had been neatly slept off, but the world retained that warm and full softness. “That song always reminds me of us,” he said, peeling his gaze off the ceiling to look at Will with a goofy grin plastered across his face. 

Will’s breath caught in his throat. Listening to Queen always made him feel less alone, but with Mike in his room singing Queen, his heart felt fit to burst. He tried to suppress his smile and formulate a thoughtful response. “I can see that, I feel like it’s about finding your own path instead of following everyone else. Does it remind you of us because we kind of do our own thing?”

He threw his head back and laughed like a loon “NO because we used to ride everywhere, but my answer seems kinda stupid now. Do you still?”

“... Still what”

“Ride your bike!!!”

“Oh,” Will paused. He hadn’t. But he never really stopped to consider why. It was his main form of transportation when he was in Hawkins but it had been lying completely unused in his garage since September. Perhaps he worried that the red New Mexico dirt would replace the Indiana mud that was caked in the grooves of the tires. “Not so much anymore”

“Let’s do it!” Mike said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “You can show me around this big beautiful place you call home”

Will was filled with a lightness, like the feeling of riding down a big hill with your feet off the pedals. The feeling of flight. “Sure I’d love to!” he said, springing up from his seat on the bed.

He and Mike rushed down to their garage and Will clambered onto Jonathan’s old bike, as his long legs had outgrown his childhood bike, leaving Mike confused and bikeless. 

“Uhhh…” Will said, embarrassed. Mike was even taller than him, and if he tried to ride Will’s old bike, his legs and limbs would have been tangled up in a cramped pretzel. Will quickly dismounted and said, “Here, have this one, I’ll use my old one.”

Mike frowned, “William, there is no way that you’d fit on that. Um…” he looked around and located a third bike, buried under old boxes of christmas decorations and winter clothes. “Is this one ok?” He unearthed a sporty white bike accented with pink and purple.

“My mom’s old bike?” Will said, his face incredulous. “I mean she definitely wouldn’t care, but do you?”

Mike shook his head. “I really don’t, I just wanna ride with you.”

“Oh,” Will said, at a loss for words. Warmth flowed through his veins like he had swallowed the pale morning sunlight. They pumped up the tires and checked the brakes and gears in comfortable silence, only occasionally punctuated with dialogue and laughter.

At last, they walked their bikes out into the wide-open day. For once, the landscape didn’t seem scary or lonesome at all, it seemed wonderful. It was like Mike had kicked down a door that Will didn’t even realize existed and there was nothing but sunshine and possibility beyond it.

“You ready?” Mike said, his eyes soft and his voice gentle in a way that made Will nervous, as if he were on the edge of some great unknown, but he nodded nevertheless.

Mike smiled and pushed off. Will quickly followed suit, his feet falling into the familiar rhythm of pushing the pedals alongside his friend. He looked over at Mike, whose face was scrunched in concentration and was once again hit with the sudden realization that Mike was really right here, next to him, bathed in the golden rays and smiling like an angel. He no longer had to reconstruct the constellation of freckles that he had committed to memory: they were here, splashed across his face, a breath away. The warm feeling inside of Will grew and he couldn’t hide the smile that spread across his face. He didn’t want to, anyway.

They kept biking until they reached a strip mall. “Is this place cool?” Mike asked. Will had honestly never been, he had only traveled the familiar path between his house and University High School. He sometimes traveled with his mom to the Farmer’s Country Market or Albertsons for groceries, which was just a short drive from his house. But that admission made him seem kind of lame so he nodded with what he hoped was a convincing smile.

“Ice cream sound good? I have a Scoops Ahoy shaped hole in my heart.” He asked, appraising the buildings in the shopping center. 

“Um, yeah! Sounds good” he said, as the made way towards the Milky Way ice cream shop.

As they stepped inside, Will noticed that it was alien-themed, with the line “Our Flavors Are Out Of This World!” scrawled on the top of the menu. Will rolled his eyes in amusement. _ When in Roswell, I suppose._

He and Mike walked in. It was set up like an old fashioned diner. Will saw a couple sharing a sundae and cozied up at a booth. He looked away quickly as the shame of intrusion burned his cheeks. Something about it seemed too personal for him to see.

Mike stood by the ice cream counter, his arms crossed and his jean jacket stretching across his broad shoulders. Will walked up to him, and Mike exhaled a sigh of contemplation. “So I was thinking of getting the Galactic Sundae but its kinda big, so do you think you’d want to share?”

Will thought of the couple’s starry eyes over the shared sundae and he blushed spectacularly. “Um, I don’t know,” he said, looking down.

“Oh,” Mike said, clearly embarrassed. He scratched the back of his neck self-consciously. “I mean we don’t have to.”

Will grimaced and then swallowed his great embarrassment in one gulp. It was like trying to swallow an elephant whole. “No, I mean, I guess, that’d be fine.” Mike looked over with a smile so bright that Will thought he would melt into the checkered tile.

They sat down with their massive sundae and settled into the sparkly red vinyl booth, which squeaked and stuck to their pant legs. Will always liked booths like this. They reminded him of Dorothy’s Ruby Red shoes in the Wizard of Oz. As they slipped into their casual pattern of conversation, Will felt a contentment that he hadn’t felt in years begin to unfold in his chest as the stress that tied his stomach in knots began to melt away. The fear of being discovered, the fear of being seen was lessening with every word spoken, every laugh. Sitting next to Mike, Will didn’t want to hide anything. For once in his life, he didn’t want to be invisible. He wanted to be _ seen. _ He wanted the whole world to see him with Mike.

He rode back feeling like someone took the world off his shoulders; Atlas on his day off. Free from the crushing weight, he could take a step back and appreciate his world, the soft crunch of leaves, the crisp air and the light that graced everything in his path with a golden glow. He never wanted to let this moment go.

He was hit with a whim that curled with the threads of thought to form an impulsive, delicate idea. A shell of a plan. The first white line on a blueprint page. now he just had to take it from dream to reality and he had no idea if he’d have the courage.

After they stowed the bikes away in the garage, Mike looked at him expectantly. A weighted silence fell over them, as it did when they were between tasks. When there were no distractions. 

Will took advantage of this awkwardness to segue into his next idea, which he dreaded almost as much as he felt it necessary.

“Do you want to, uh” he cleared his throat “go to my room?” he asked.

Mike’s brow furrowed in slight confusion before he smiled and huffed a laugh “yeah that’s where I thought we’d go anyways” the confusion dropped from his face, which fell into his usual casual grin.

Will could have slapped himself. _ Nice going, idiot. Why did you have to make that all weird? _ Not like it wasn’t about to be a lot weirder. He forced a laugh “yeah, of course,” he said, rolling his eyes and hitting his face with his palm, a theatrical and exaggerative expression that he learned from Joyce. He bit his lip and tried to hide the shaking of his hands as they climbed the stairs in a silence that seemed to stretch like a rubber band. Will just hoped that it wouldn’t snap.

“So do you wanna read comics or something…?” Mike said, glancing at the bright and glossy books strewn across his bed from their earlier reading.

“Uh actually I wanted to show you a song,” Will said, a wave of sudden embarrassment crashing down upon him. He knew the idea was kinda questionable but it just sounded so stupid coming back to his ears. He tried to clarify. “You know how you said that Bicycle Race reminded you of us?” Mike nodded. “Well I have one that reminds me of how I feel about you” he blushed “UH I mean like it reminds me of us too, like the bike song, yeah”

He hurried to position the needle to the right song. A Night at the Opera, track 4.

Will sat down on the bed next to Mike trying not to shake as the sweet sounds filled up the room and floated like dreamy clouds. 

_ Ooh you’re making me live. Whenever this world is cruel to me, it’s you, you’re all I see… _

Mike's eyebrows lifted. “Ooh I like this song, it’s much better for us than the bike song”

Will scrunched up his face. He didn’t remember it sounding so blatantly romantic when he used to listen to it alone in his room and reach back into memories to find a hand to hold. Now that Mike was really here, it was all too apparent, all too obvious. 

_ You’re my sunshine, and I want you to know that my feelings are true_

_ I really love you._

_ You’re my best friend._

His cheeks reddened and eyes welled up with tears at this silent confession. His grand gesture brought into the harsh fluorescent light of his bedroom made him feel so small, because he knew this was as bold as he was ever going to be. He sat there awkwardly as the record kept turning and the song dragged along. He felt Mike glancing over at him but continued to stare at his muddy sneakers until the song transitioned into the next song on the album. He finally took a deep, shaky breath and steadied himself to speak

“Yeah I don’t know, I guess I wasn’t really focusing on the lyrics, but just the general message like you’re my best friend and you always make the bad days better and I’m just really lucky to have you and all,” he said, trailing off as he shifted his gaze back to the carpet.

“Hey,” Mike said, placing his hand hesitantly on Will's shaking hands. “You’re my best friend too. I mean it.” His eyes widened as if that allowed the space to convey a message of heavier significance. “You’re my _ best friend._” With his left hand still holding Will’s right, Mike rested his head on his shoulder. 

Will wasn’t certain the exact message that Mike was trying to convey, but sitting here in the fading glow of the setting sun with their fingers interlaced, he wasn’t sure that it mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Omg thank you so much for reading this fic!! I hope you all liked it ok!! Special shoutout to my best friend @manicmagicat for inspiring the bike scene by bringing up how Bicycle Race is lowkey a byler song (also fun fact, if Will went by Bill, their ship name really would be bike hehe). Hope u all have a lovely day <3
> 
> also also: if you’ve already read Winter Blunderland, now u know why Mike is like !!!?!!!? at the beginning lmao. And if u haven’t, that’s part two so feel free to read if u would like :’)

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to comment!! I always love to read them <3


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